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California Governor Gavin Newsom Says State Is Monitoring 8,400 Coronavirus Cases

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Marlo Safi Culture Reporter
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Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom said Thursday the state is monitoring at least 8,400 people for Coronavirus, CNBC reported.

“This is a fluid situation right now and I want to emphasize the risk to the American public remains low,” said Dr. Sonia Y. Angell, California Department of Public Health Director and State Health Officer during a press conference according to CNBC. “There have been a limited number of confirmed cases to date.”

The announcement comes a day after a suspected case was reported to have been caused through “community spread,” making the person the first in the U.S. to contract the virus without having traveled to affected areas or having exposure to others who had the coronavirus, according to NPR.

The suspected case was left undiagnosed for days because a request for testing wasn’t initially granted, officials at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento said according to NPR.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Americans on Tuesday to prepare for the “expectation that this might be bad,” as the coronavirus continues to spread worldwide, with Italy emerging as the focal point of the virus in Europe, while Iran scrambles to combat the spread as confirmed cases in the country grow. (RELATED: CDC Warns Americans To Prepare For Coronavirus Outbreak In Their Communities)

Former Homeland Security adviser Fran Townsend told CBS “What people haven’t talked about is people can be totally asymptomatic… you can be infected with the coronavirus and have no symptoms and that means you can infect others and not even know you have it.”